Russian Roulette (game show)

Russian Roulette
Format	Game show
Created by	Gunnar Wetterberg
Presented by	Mark L. Walberg
Narrated by	Burton Richardson
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	131
Production
Running time	22 minutes
Production company(s)	Columbia TriStar Television GSN Originals
Broadcast
Original channel	GSN
Original run	June 3, 2002 (2002-06-03) – June 13, 2003 (2003-06-13)

Russian Roulette is an American game show created by executive producer Gunnar Wetterberg that ran for two seasons on Game Show Network from June 3, 2002 to June 13, 2003. It was hosted by Mark L. Walberg, with Burton Richardson announcing. Todd Newton hosted an April Fool's Day episode in 2003. The series is produced by Sony Pictures Television domestically and internationally. The pilot was produced at Churubusco Studios in Mexico City in 2001. The Russian Roulette set consists of a circle with six trapdoors, four of which are occupied by the episode's contestants.

Gameplay

First round

The four players are each given $150 at the beginning of the show. One contestant, randomly selected to start the game, is read a question by the host, and must challenge another contestant to answer correctly. Once a contestant has been selected to answer the question the multiple-choice options are given (three choices in the first round, four thereafter, all increasing in difficulty as the round progresses). The challenged contestant has ten seconds to answer. If the challenged player gives a correct answer, they receive money and control of the next question. In the first season, the contestants received $150 apiece in the first round, $200 apiece for the second, and $300 apiece in the third for each correct answer. In the second season, the third round was played for $250 apiece for each correct answer. After every question, another "drop zone" is added, increasing the odds that the player will be eliminated after an incorrect answer; from the fifth question onward, there are always 5 drop zones. If a challenged player gives an incorrect answer, then that contestant forfeits all their accumulated winnings to the challenger and is forced to play Russian Roulette by pulling a handle in front of them.

Playing Russian Roulette

The trapdoor of the player who answered incorrectly is unlocked. Then they pull a handle in front of their trapdoor. This triggers the active drop zone lights (in red) to begin spinning around the field, much like a roulette wheel or (more appropriate to the metaphor) the cylinder of a revolver. The number of red lights indicates the number of active drop zones. In season one, it was a random spin. In season two, the player controlled the length of the spin by how long he or she pulled the handle.

If the drop zone light stops on the trapdoor on which the affected player is standing, that trapdoor opens and drops the player three feet into a room below the stage. Once a player drops out of the game, the round is over and the next round begins after a commercial break.

When time runs out in the first two rounds (indicated by a chime, usually after the fifth question), the winnings of all remaining contestants are compared. The person with the highest score is escorted to the center of the stage, and is safe from the drop. He or she pulls a handle in the center, for a random-elimination spin where a single red light revolves around the cylinder until it stops on one of the remaining contestants, thus forcing someone out of the game. This ends the round, with the winnings of the eliminated player being equally distributed among the remaining players (including the top winner) for the next round.

In the case of a tie for first place or two or more players tie with the same amount in a round-ending Russian Roulette, Mark himself would pull the lever, and all players are in danger of dropping.

Second and third rounds

The second round is played similar to the first, albeit with one fewer player. In the third round, since only two players remain, contestants have the choice to answer the question themselves or pass it to their opponent. A wrong answer forces the player to play Russian Roulette; a right answer gives him or her money and control of the next question. Should time run out, whoever has the lower amount at the end of the round is the one to drop. The last person remaining at the end of this round assimilates the other player's score (if any) into his or her winnings and advances to the endgame. If the game ends in a tie Russian Roulette is played.

Endgame

First season

The contestant is moved to the top-left zone and has 60 seconds to answer five "brain-teaser" questions referred to by the host as "5 Killer Questions". These usually consist of jumbles, math problems and general-knowledge questions. The timer (also represented by the light border around the stage) begins ticking while the host asks the first question. After every ten seconds, one drop zone opens on the playfield. If time runs out or the contestant gives an incorrect answer, he or she drops, but receives $500 for every correct answer. The contestant has the option to pass on a question and return to it if time allows. The contestant says "My answer is..." before the answer so that thinking aloud is not mistaken for an answer. If the player gets all five questions correct, the clock stops and he or she receives $10,000. He or she then has the option of exchanging the money for one final Russian Roulette, with the number of drop zones unopened being safe. Should the contestant risk his or her winnings and receive a safe zone (which will remain shut), the prize increases to $100,000. The money won through the first three rounds, however, is the winner's to keep and therefore not risked for the bonus round.

If the risk is refused, the player pulls the lever to see what would have happened had the contestant taken the risk. However, the contestant gets to step off the trapdoor.

Second season

The endgame is similar to the first version, except the contestant must answer ten multiple-choice questions (each with three choices) in 60 seconds in order to win $10,000. The timer only starts ticking after the first question has been read. If the player fails, an additional $300 is given for every correct answer given. Saying "My answer is" before the answer is no longer required. As before, should all 10 answers be answered correctly, the clock stops. The contestant then has the option of risking their money for a final pull.

$100,000 winners

Three people have won the grand prize on Russian Roulette. All of them have been allowed to step off the trapdoor following the win.

• Al Winchell: 3 drop zones, $102,150 total winnings (season 1)
• Todd Truly: 4 drop zones, $102,200 total winnings (season 1)
• Maria Lay: 5 drop zones, $102,000 total winnings (season 2) (the only winner to survive with 5 drop zones)

International versions

Country	Name	Host	Channel	Prize	First year aired
Argentina	Decisión Final	Horacio Cabak	América	AR$100.000	June 6, 2003
Brazil	Roleta Russa	Milton Neves	Rede Record	R$500.000	October 2002-October 2003
Bulgaria	Руска pулeткa	Nikolay Georgiev	K1
Chile	La Ruleta Rusa	Diana Bolocco	Canal 13	$250.000.000	2012
Egypt	الدائرة El Daera	Ayman Kaisouni	ERTU1	250.000 ج.م.	September 2010
Greece	Ρωσική Ρουλέτα Rosiki Rouleta	Miltos Makridis	MEGA		2002-2003
Hong Kong	一觸即發	Dayo Wong	TVB	HK$500,000	2002
India	Bachke Rehnaa Zara Sambhalna	Mohnish Behl	SET	Rs.1,000,000	September 9, 2002
Indonesia	Russian Roulette	Dede Yusuf	Trans TV	Rp100,000,000	September 2002-December 2003
Poland	Rosyjska Ruletka	Henryk Talar Krzysztof Ibisz	Polsat	100,000zł	2002-2004
Russia	Русская рулетка	Valdis Pelsh	Channel One	1,000,000руб	April 2002-August 2004
Serbia and Montenegro	Ruski Rulet! Руски рулет!	Irfan Mensur	RTV Pink
	Ruski Rulet Show! Руски рулет шоу! (VIP version)	Milan Kalinić
Serbia Croatia Bosnia and Herzegovina Montenegro Slovenia Macedonia	Ruski Rulet! Руски рулет!	Dragan Marinković Maca	RTV Pink Pink BH Pink M
Singapore	灵机一洞	Xu Nailin	MediaCorp TV Channel 8	S$10,000	2003-2004
Spain	Decisíon Fínal	Luis Crespo	Telecinco	€10,000
Republic of China	俄羅斯輪盤	Cai Kangyong	Star Chinese Channel	NT$1,000,000
Turkey	Rus Ruleti	Berkun Oya	Star TV	1,000,000YTL	April 12, 2008
United Kingdom	Russian Roulette	Rhona Cameron	ITV	£10,000	2002-2003

On all versions of Russian Roulette outside of the US, UK, and the Polish version in the season two, there are also displays of the contestants' heart rates on the screen (examples include Russia's, Poland's (season one), and Hong Kong's versions), and most versions even have the contestants themselves asking questions to their opponents. There is also a camera underneath each of the trapdoors to catch footage of the contestant dropping from another angle. Some may also have a maximum time limit of 15 seconds instead of 10 to answer questions. Polish version have a 30 seconds to answer the question in season one and 20 seconds in season two. Most versions of the show (except for the US, UK, and India) run for an hour rather than a half-hour.

External links

• Russian Roulette (game show) at TV.com
• Russian Roulette (game show) at the Internet Movie Database
• UK Gameshows Page: Russian Roulette